Consecutive away wins against Blackburn and Newcastle have seen West Brom surge into the top half of the table, although their momentum looks likely to be checked by the visit of Manchester City to the Hawthorns on Monday.

Predictions that an away defeat to Chelsea and a fortuitous 1-0 victory over Arsenal were indicative of a slight drop in form were ruthlessly quashed by the league leaders when they galloped to a 3-0 win over Stoke on Wednesday.

Two goals to the good at the interval, Roberto Mancini’s men had far too much for a Stoke side who had gone into the game on the back of four consecutive league wins.

The fear for Albion is that a similar fate awaits them in front of their home fans.

Much has been made of Manchester City’s home record this season, with only two points dropped from 18 league games at the Etihad Stadium in the calendar year and eight wins in a row chalked up this season.

However, their away record is not too shabby either, with only two teams preventing the Citizens from picking up all three points on their travels.

And with West Brom ranked as only the 16th-best team in terms of home success – with only two wins out of eight and seven points from a possible 24 – there seems little point in backing anything other than an away victory on Monday.

A Man City win is priced at 21/50 in bwin’s 3Way football betting market, with a home victory priced at 6/1 and a draw at 7/2.

For more attractive returns, it might be worth considering a punt on there being more than 1.5 goals in the first half, which is priced at tempting odds of 13/10.

Although City have kept clean sheets in their last two games, they conceded at least once in their eight previous league matches.

Meanwhile, West Brom have scored in each of their last six Premier League games and are far more likely to score in the first half than in the second, with 12 of their 19 goals coming in the first 45 minutes.

With City scoring more first-half goals in away matches than all other teams bar Manchester United – despite scoring the overwhelming majority of their goals after the interval – this suggests there could be a couple of goals at least in the opening 45 minutes.

A successful £25 free bet on there being over 1.5 goals in the first half is set to return £57.50, with the free bet available to new customers who sign up for a bwin account.

For a safer bet, consider a punt on City to win and the game to feature at last three goals.

After all, seven of the title favourites’ eight away games have seen over three goals so far this season.

Indeed, the Citizens have scored over three goals a game on average, which suggests they will be able to score over 2.5 goals all on their own.

This bet is available at 21/20, although the more adventurous punter could be tempted by odds of 23/10 on a City win with over 3.5 goals.

Six of City’s eight away games have seen at least four goals and, given their performance against Stoke, it would hardly be a surprise if they made it seven out of nine against the Baggies.

New customers can register here to claim a free £25 bet or click here to see all our Premier League odds.

Tim worked as a desk head at online press agency Adfero for four years before joining the bwinbetting line-up. A refined character with impressive football knowledge, Tim will often be fouind at Carrow Road watching his first love, Norwich City.

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